‘What are you going to study at university?” This was the presumptuous question I faced countless times last year and each time a person asked me, they were often left surprised by my response.

I knew from an early age that university wasn’t for me. I couldn’t picture myself studying full time for another three years, and the thought of moving away from home, being saddled with student debt and possibly not being able to get the job I wanted after graduating worried me. But I reminded my then 13-year-old self that I still had plenty of time to decide what to do and my mindset could completely change in the coming years. It didn’t.